Chicco Maggioni was born in Milan, where he lives and works as a surgeon.
He has, a great passion for the sea. He
took up diving in 1971 at FIPS Turin and qualified as a
3 star CMAS instructor. In Milan, he beacame the Course Director for the
FIPS, and 2 years later he founded, together with
some very good friends and enthusiastic scuba divers Group Milan
University, and spent almost thirty years in underwater
education.

His first trip was to tropical
Maldives in 1984 and from
the 1990s, his curiosity for diving led him to qualify as a PADI
Instructor, CEDIP, SSI, SDI and TDI.
In 2005, during a trip to the Maldives, he discovered the ease of use of
the compact digital camera and from there a new strand of interest,
including the possibility of using it for video.
Since then, after
many diving destinations, Chicco has rediscovered the Mediterranean and in
particular the Ligurian Sea, his first love.

Chicco is
currently using a Sony NEX-5 with 18/55 or 16 mm, with Aquatica Diving Bell
and 2 Inon D-2000 strobes

Adobe announces Creative Suite 6

Adobe have announced Creative Suite 6 Design &amp; Web
Premium software 'the ultimate toolkit for professional design. Deliver
eye-catching digital images and craft graphics that remain crisp when
scaled. Lay out high-impact print pages with exquisite typography, build
HTML5/CSS3 websites that look great on any screen, and design applications
for tablets and smartphones'.

Ikelite has released a polycarbonate housing for the
Nikon D800 and D800e. It features the traditional control arms, and is
hard-wired for Nikon iTTL controlled flash exposure. It allows access to
all important camera functions, has comfortable rubber grips and a glass
optical viewfinder. Ports are available for most popular lenses and lens
zoom gears are included with the housing.

BSoUP Committee Member and Wetpixel Associate Editor
Alex
Mustard has been able to obtain an early D4 camera, and has
pent the past two weeks shooting with it jn very challenging condition in
Iceland. As he states, the D4 is a pro body designed for professionals on
assignment, and hence it makes sense to test the camera in very challenging
conditions.

His review will be presented in 5 sections with each new
section being added daily. The sections will be: (1) Introduction, (2) Camera and housing overview, (3) ISO, image
quality and shooting FX, (4) Autofocus and shooting experience (macro and
wide, stills and video), (5) Comparisons with other cameras and
conclusion.

Wildscreen Festival 2012

Sunday 14 - Friday 19 October 2012

Deadline for entries: 27 April
2012

The Wildscreen Festival is the world's largest, most
prestigious international wildlife and environmental film festival.

Held in Bristol, UK since 1982, the Wildscreen Festival
has helped nurture and shape the natural history filmmaking industry as we
know it today.

Attracting 550-plus delegates from over 40 countries, the
week-long festival is a focal point for wildlife and environmental
filmmaking excellence. Delegates come from around the world to hear the
latest industry news, hone their skills, investigate emerging technologies
and exchange ideas.

With over 100 separate events, the Festival provides a
first class programme of thought provoking lectures and debates, film
screenings, workshops and masterclasses. Playing host to industry
heavyweights, the Festival is also an essential international marketplace.
Films are bought and sold, commissions and collaborations established, and
new talent is discovered. Tickets for this year's event go on sale in
June.

Whatever the budget, wherever the location, we are
looking for the most interesting, innovative, exciting and the very best
films about the natural world. Further details at http://www.wildscreenfestival.org/

Images Dominica is the website of Simon Walsh and Arun
'Izzy' Madisetti.

Images Dominica was born out of Simon's love for
photography and the beauty of Dominica. He has a strong background in
design and marketing, and uses this to full advantage in creating ads and
posters advertising events in the media locally and internationally.

Izzy qualified as a marine biologist and has spent a lot
of his life doing marine research. He first began taking photos to document
the life he was seeing and gradually moved to taking photos to promote the
underwater environment to non divers. Izzy is also a regular contributing
editor in Domnitjen Magazine.

An illustrated talk by Dr Frank Gloystein who will be
showing slides from his diving expeditions under our Cornish waters, Isle
of Skye and the beautiful Lofoten Islands, Norway with the main focus on
Cornish marine life.

Cost is £2. Dr Gloystein will have some of his prints and
DVDï's on sale along with our trust goods.

The next meeting of the East Midlands Underwater
Photographers (EMUP) takes place on Monday 7th May downstairs in Nemo's
Bar, at Stoney Cove at 7:30
sharp. All pub facilities will be open so refreshments will be on hand

Print Night

Mark Eaton - home printing,

Rob Cuss - online printing and mounting and framing.

Competition: Seals and Sealions

Focus On - April - Results

The category for April was 'Two of something'. There were
a total of 39 entries of which 32 were pre-selected for projection and
voting at the meeting.

Congratulations to Alex Tattersall who
was the winner with his image of two Manatees in Crystal Springs, Florida
(right).

Congratulations also to Paul
Flandinette, who came second with his image of two moray eels
(below) and Richard Smith, who came third with his image
of two whip gobies (belwo, right). There was tie for fourth place between
Jane Morgan and Robert Bailey with their
images of two manta rays and two seals respectively. Sixth place only 11
points behind the winner, was Pash Baker with her image of
two whale sharks.

BSoUP Members only may view all of the
entries in the Competition slideshow, but you will be asked to login if you
haven't already done so this session. You may choose to View either the
Gallery or Sldieshow from the top left menu option View.

If you were not one of the top six and would like to know
how your scored, please contact Brian Pitkin.

Next month's Focus On competition, which is open
to BSoUP Members only, is Crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, crayfish,
shrimps and even copepods and barnacles - give us your best crusty image).
The competition will open shortly. Please read the Rules before entering Online.

Enter your best images in any or all of the four
categories - Macro, Wide-Angle, Behavior and Divers to win some amazing
prizes and have your work featured in the August 2012 issue.

Grand prize is a one-week Bahamas trip aboard the
Carib Dancer Live-aboard (1 person), plus $1,000 cash. The
Carib Dancer departs from Nassau. Seven nights onboard the
Carib Dancer Bahamas Live-Aboard includes all meals, soft
beverages and local beer and wine, transfers from/to Nassau International
Airport, 5 and ½ days of diving up to five dives per day, and all other
standard services and amenities that the Dancer Fleet is renowned for.

Zac Macaulay is a professional advertising and underwater
photographer based in London UK. He trained under the expert tuition of the
late Mike Portelly, and does a lot of work for advertising and design
agencies.

Zac also works extensively for Getty Images, where most
of the featured images can be found on www.gettyimages.com. He won the gold medal at Image
2003-04 Festival of Underwater Film and Photography, and now shoots with a
Canon EOS 1DS MK2 in a Seacam housing. His work always has a strong design
base and feel, and he is always striving for new ideas in the underwater
medium.

The Epson Red Sea 2012 Online Competition takes place
between the months of January and May. Each month during the competition,
amateur and professional photographers from all over the world are invited
to submit a portfolio of 3 digital photos. By the end of each month, 3
photographers will be announced as the winners of that particular month,
chosen both by the public and by an international panel of 5 judges. An
online competition among all the monthly winners (15 photographers) will
then begin on June 1st, 2012. Online voters and the panel will eventually
select one of the competitors as the "Photographer of the Year".

&nbsp;

The top three

The First place went to David Salvatori from Italy
David has won 26.34% of the combined votes of surfers and judges

The Second place went to Steven Kovacs from USA
who won 24.15% of the votes.

We invited BSoUP Members who had never
attended a course on underwater photography with Martin
Edge to send a brief statement about their current camera system,
their underwater photography background and experience, send six of their
best images and tell us why thought they would benefit from a one-off
special offer of a single FREE place on a one day course near Bournemouth.
BSoUP offered to pay£60 for the use of the hotel and pool
and Martin generously agreed to provide his services at no cost. The lucky
winner would be expected to pay their travel expenses and accommodation.
Unfortunately there were only seven submissions.

Congratulations to Heather Morris who
was selected by Martin and the majority of the BSoUP
Committee as the the candidate most likely to benefit from Martin's
course.

Heather has been diving for 5 years and fell in love with
underwater photography from her very first Advanced dive with a borrowed
camera. Until this year Heather used a Sea and Sea 1200H digital camera
with external Sea and Sea YS17 TTL Slave strobe. She had some good results
but desperately wanted to improve them so she invested in a Canon 550d SLR
with Sea and Sea RDX-550D housing. On learning of her win Heather said
'That is fantastic news! I am very excited to have won this great chance! I
have just bought Martin's
book!

BSoUP's April Meeting

The next BSoUP meeting takes place on
Wednesday, 18 April 2012at 7.30 for 8.00 p.m. atour usual venue the
Holland
Club, Imperial College, South Kensington, London, SW7 5BD. &nbsp;New
and prospective new members will be welcomed from 7.30 p.m. See Welcome.

Nick Robertson-Brown: The challenge of
competing and progressing in BIPP - driving my photography to a higher
level by making me think outside the underwater world.&nbsp;

Nick will discuss his progress and experiences in
becoming an Associate member of both BIPP and the RPS, how these
institutions can help you improve your photography, and what he thinks the
advantages are in their membership. He will show the images he has used in
his submissions and the images he thinks might help him progress to the
next level.

Nick, with his wife Caroline, runs Frogfish Photography,
based in Manchester, offering underwater photography tuition, trips in the
UK and overseas, equipment sales (including Nauticam and INON). They are
also photo-journalists for Sport Diver, writing a regular piece on marine
life behaviour and photography, as well as reports on their travels to
diving destinations all over the world.

Focus On Competition: Two of
something (any pair of underwater creatures). The competition is now
closed. BSoUP Members only may preview the Competition
slideshow. You will be asked to login if you have not done so this
session.

Helen will talk about issues such as composition,
positioning, etc on land that we can then take underwater to improve our
shots.

Helen&nbsp;has always been&nbsp;captivated by the sea. At
a young age when living in the Middle East she would always be found either
in the water or on the water sailing and this passion developed into a love
of scuba diving, taking underwater images and then into landscape
photography mainly involving water of some kind. It is this passion she
brings to her photography and a willingness to share it with others by
providing landscape photography workshops in Hampshire and Dorset where
there are some stunning areas of the coastline. She has been a BSoUP member
off and on for about three years but has been focussed on setting up her
land photography business so underwater photography has temporarily taken a
back seat (a situation she hopes will change soon!).

She is dedicated to making her images in camera as
opposed to photo editing.&nbsp;

The competition will run on similar lines to last year's
, although a few changes have been made. The Grand Prize for the overall
winner is a 7-day live-aboard holiday for two in the Maldives (exclusive of
flights and taxes) courtesy of Maldives Scuba
Tours.

Other prizes and awards that have been confirmed are
detailed at Splash-In 2012 along
with the Rules.

Prior to learning to dive Keith was a keen land
photographer and as such underwater photography was a natural extension of
this interest, in fact the interest was significantly rekindled through
diving.

Keith's first experience of underwater photography was
with a disposable camera in a plastic housing. Although the results were
less than impressive, this ignited a desire to take further images and
acquire the skills required to develop as an underwater photographer.

Following basic training via the PADI Photography
Speciality course (using the Sea &amp; Sea MX-10 35mm Auto Focus Underwater
Camera), Keith bought his first camera and housing. At this time early
digital cameras and housings were starting to reach the market at an
affordable price and Keith purchased the 3 megapixel Olympus 3040, Olympus
PT-10 housng and Epoque slave strobe.

A turning point in Keith's underwater photography
development was a weekend course with leading underwater photographer
Martin Edge. The tuition and advice gained from Martin has
been invaluable in the progression of Keith's knowledge, technique and
ability.

Since those early days Keith has progressed through a
number of compact digital cameras before moving to a housed DSLR. Keith is
currently shooting with the Nikon D300 in a Subal housing.

On Monday 30th April, 2012 there will be
a meeting for like-minded divers and underwater photographers who are based
in Cornwall. The venue will be the Watersports Centre,
Falmouth.

Two speakers Jamie Watts and
Paul Ives will entertain and inform you along with the
added attraction of a pay bar on site. Meet at 7.00 p.m. for 7.30 p.m.
start.

Jamie Watts is a marine ecologist,
expedition leader, diver, photographer and naturalist guide working in
earth's most spectacular marine ecosystems. Jamie has spent the last seven
southern summers as well as two winters in the Antarctic and the last four
northern summers in the Arctic, most recently guiding expedition and dive
trips to the Antarctic and remote mid-Atlantic islands and the High Arctic
from Spitzbergen to Greenlanmd to the Northwest Passage.

Jamie will give a fascinating illustrated talk on his
adventures and experiences of photographing the Arctic and Antarctic.

Paul Ives is a practising commercial
advertising and underwater photographer with 27 years experience. Paul
recently gained a Fellowship of the British Institute of Professional
Photographers with an underwater portfolio and is now working as a Senior
Lecturer on the Marine and Natural History BA Photography course at
UCF.

Paul will do a short technical talk in support of Jamie
on shooting without strobes.

DIVER invite you to enjoy watching DIVERï's selection of
underwater videos from around the internet in our new DIVER TV video player. You can search the titles of the videos
for specific subjects, such as Maldives, or you can simply browse the
various channels via the tabs. New videos will be added regularly, so come
back to see the latest additions. If you would like to suggest a video to
be included in DIVER TV, please email the DIVER for
consideration.

There is a tab dedicated to Dive &amp; Photo Training
which includes Alex Mustard's new series HOW TO BE A
CHAMP! which starts in DIVER Magazine's May issue, published 19 April. So
don't worry if you missed his talk at LIDS 2012 - he will be in DIVER
Magazine soon.

During the next few days, if you experience a problem
viewing the videos on the screen above on certain browsers (MS Internet
Explorer) we would recommend you use Mozilla
Firefox or Google Chrome.

blue o two are very happy to announce that Saeed Rashid
of 'Focus Visuals' will be joining their team to run exclusive 'In Focus:
Liveaboard Photography Workshops in the northern and southern Red Sea,
Egypt.

A lecturer at Bournemouth University, photographic
consultant for Diver magazine and popular speaker at UK Dive Shows, Saeed
will guide you through the underwater photography process from start to
finish.

Saeed said "I am very excited about working
with blue o two and aim to make learning fun, promoting confidence and
participation. You will be able to relax and enjoy a memorable holiday,
whilst enhancing your underwater photography skills and who knows maybe
teach me a top tip of your own!"

For other courses, workshops and expeditions mled by BSoUP Members
please visit Courses.

ScubaCam Festival

Bratislava, Slowakia

Deadline 10th April, 2012

The uw photography &amp; videography festival "ScubaCam" takes place
from 20th-22th in Bratislava/Slowakia and is still open for entries (
online submission of photos is accepted &amp; provided ). Total prizes to
the value of $US 6500 include dive holidays ( liveaboards in Indonesia
&amp; Egypt ), lots of scuba &amp; uw photo gear and even a bottle of
original Cuban Rum. Enter online at the festival's website :http://www.scubacam-festival.com/.
Winner's of the contest will be announced life during the festival on 21th
April.

ScubaCam

BSoUP stand at LIDS 2012

BSoUP at LIDS 2012

Once again BSoUP staged an impressive stand at the London
International Dive Show held at ExCel in London's Docklands over the
weekend of 31st March/1st April. In addition to the main stand the prints
from last Ocotober's BSoUP/DIVER Print Competition were displayed with
credits rather than anonomously, thanks to DIVER. Plus
BSoUP Member Martin Davies gave top tips
talks on both days, which were well attended

BSoUP thanks Martin and all the members
that volunteered to set-up, man or break down the stand.

Adam Hanlon and Alex
Mustard covered LIDS for wetpixel, where you can read more about the event and some of
the equipment offered for sale by underwater photographic manufactures and
retailers.

Website of the Week - Alan Lyall

Alan lives in Norfolk in the UK and has been taking
photos for many years. His first 'proper' camera was a Zenit EM (he
remembers feeling 'guilty' about spending £40 on it). He has progressed a
bit since then and now uses a Canon diSLR with L series lenses and has no
more guilt. Alan has always had an interest in natural history and many of
his photographs reflect this. He is also fascinated by macro photography -
the ability to see things that the naked eye cannot never ceases to amaze.
In 2000, Akan and his wife took up scuba diving and in 2006 Alan started
taking photos underwater with his dSLR. Both been fortunate to be able to
travel to many exotic destinations to indulge their joint passions.

EMUP Members NightThe evening will
be made up of 4 mini-talks from EMUP members. I currently have 2
volunteers. If you can fill a 15 minute slot with any topic of your choice
(dive destination, critter, equipment, anecdote etc) then please get in
touch.

Competition: Wrecks
Submit images to Plymouth Splash-in: There are now two
places on the boat for the Splash-in and a bunk room available in the
Mountbatten Centre. If interested please let me know.

NUPG - Next Meeting

Monday 16th April, 2012

The next meeting is on Monday 16th April (not the 9th as
that is Easter Monday) at the usual venue- Gurkha Grill, West
Didsbury, Manchester (Map)

It is an open evening, which is free for all non-members
who are interested in underwater photography

We will be judging the Winter Splash-In and discussing
images brought in by those attending, giving advice and editing tips

The VDST Verband Deutscher Sporttaucher e.V. (German
Underwater Federation) has the pleasure to invite you to participate at the
32nd Kamera Louis Boutan, the International Photo- and Videosub to be held
on Gozo island from 29th April to 6th May 2012. No other competition in diving has shown this much
continuity and tradition. The competition will be organized with our
VDST-Diving Center Nautic Team in Marsalforn - Gozo.

The latest issue of the FREE web magazine African Diver
is now available to download.

Issue 22 is an ecelectic collection of articles
celebrating the diversity that lives in and around our oceans. If you're
into critters then you'll love our nudibranch article and the one on macro
photography. If chasing sardines is your game then youï'll want to read up
on Port St Johns and gannets; the indicator species (along with common
dolphin) for sardine activity. Activism by The Black Fish on illegal drift
nets in the Mediterranean gets our support with an article that, hopefully,
will inspire you to support them. And we end this issue with the colourful
photography of Ivan van Heerden and the inspirational story of Raffaella
Schlegal who changed her life to follow her dream of diving with
sharks.

The competition will run on similar lines to last year's
(see Results 2011 and Rules 2011), although a
few changes will be made. The Grand Prize for the overall winner is a 7-day
live-aboard holiday for two in the Maldives (exclusive of flights and
taxes) courtesy of Maldives Scuba Tours. Other prizes and awards will be
announced as they are confirmed.

Those attending who have not booked accommodation or a
space on a boat should contact Martha
Tressler who has some spaces available.

BSoUP Photobook - Images taken in British
waters

The latest BSoUP photobook - Images
taken in British waters is now available online at www.photobox.co.uk/.

We invited BSoUP members to submit images taken in
British waters for a photobook to promote the society, particularly at
events like dive shows. We are delighted that quite a few members responded
(see below). The book, compiled by Alison Mayor, is now available to order
online and you may preview the contents (password LIDS2012)

Comprising 58 pages the book retails at £56.99 plus
postage. However until 18th March there is a buy one get one free offer for
hard cover books over 40 pages (code HCBOOKS241), so we suggest you split
the cost of two copies with another underwater photographer.

N. B. Unfortunately the preview doesn't show if you use
Internet Explorer 9. If you have this version, once you have clicked on the
URL (http://www.photobox.co.uk/) use the IE 9 Tools /
Compatability View to enable you to log in to the photobook [or use
Internet Explorer 8 or earlier or another browser like Safari (http://www.apple.com/safari/download/) or Google Chrome
(http://www.google.co.uk/chrome)]. Log in with the password
LIDS2012. The discount code to purchase two copies for the price of one is
HCBOOKS241. A box for this code is located on the order form.

BWPA is delighted to announce the 2012 competition is now
open for entries. With twelve separate categories, the subject matter
covers everything from marine life and animal behaviour to creepy crawlies
and urban wildlife.

With a prize fund of up to £20,000 and
the overall winner receiving a cash prize of £5,000, the
images receiving judges' commendations will form part of a series of
nationwide exhibitions and be included in a book.

The 2012 Blue Ocean Film Festival is calling for entries.
The event will be held from 24-30 September in Monterey, California and
consists of, firstly, an international film competition which honors all
genres of ocean related films. Films from around the globe are selected to
be screened and celebrated during the festival and recognized at the BLUE
Carpet Awards Ceremony. Secondly, an industry conference is to be held
during the festival, and lastly, a conservation summit during which leaders
in ocean issues, solutions and policy will head up a series of lectures and
panels in conjunction with community educational outreach programs.